Prior Response
Sometimes we see an article about American security lapses and vulnerabilities and we say, “Even if it’s true, did they need to tell the enemy about that?” But this one is running 24/7 on cable. As the U.S. approaches the 4th anniversary of 9-11, we remain clueless about planning for major disasters in American cities.
Sometimes we see an article about American security lapses and vulnerabilities and we say, “Even if it’s true, did they need to tell the enemy about that?” But this one is running 24/7 on cable. As the U.S. approaches the 4th anniversary of 9-11, we remain clueless about planning for major disasters in American cities.
This is the second large-scale urban disaster in America since the San Francisco earthquake. Broader than 9-11, an entire city is uninhabitable and streams of refugees face long-term displacement. Our first impulse may be to blame the government for failings real and imagined. But our second should be more realistic. The government could no more “make” the Gulf Coast ready for Katrina than it could have “made” New York ready for 9-11. And the government will always turn out to have done things wrong before the fact and will never get there immediately after with the necessary relief.
Disaster planning is a local function, starting with our personal responsibilities.
We used to understand that. We have forgotten what we used to know about protecting ourselves from what we knew was out there. We used to call it “civil defense.” Some of us remember drills in school and block captains in the neighborhood. Shelters were marked and people had supplies. You were your own first line of defense; your neighbors were next.
So, how prepared are YOU for a (hurricane, blizzard, fire, tornado, flood, terrorist attack, swarm of killer bees)? Do you believe the weather forecast? Do you believe the terror alert system? What about your family? Can you get grandma out of town? Do your children know emergency safe places/people and phone numbers? Have you checked the food and water you stored after 9-11? Papers, passports, medicine?
Go up the line. How prepared are your local public officials? How do you know? Have they discussed evacuation routes and contingency plans at a town meeting? Did you attend? Would your police do better than the New Orleans police? What makes you think so? If you are unhappy with the response of the National Guard, do you really want to wait for soldiers anyhow? Ours is a big country, so maybe you think some other State’s Guard will always be able to come and help, but what if the disaster is in multiple cities? Your local police have to be able to do the local job and if they can’t, what are you doing about it?
What are you demanding of your mayor, your police chief and your town council? Of your school board in case disaster strikes during school hours? Of your State Legislature and your Governor? Of your Congressman at his/her district office? Of your Senator at his/her home office? If your Senator says the Supreme Court nomination is his/her top priority – dump him/her.
Katrina is an unmitigated disaster for the people of the Gulf Coast. It shouldn’t turn out to be a look into the future for the rest of us.